Climate science, policy, politics, and action
The hearing will examine the effectiveness of current energy tax policy and identify additional steps that the Committee can take to ensure continued job growth in this area while at the same time advancing national energy policy focus on a discussion of current and proposed energy tax incentives.
As Congress continues to push for a comprehensive clean energy and climate bill, questions remain regarding the coal industry’s position on the essential science of climate change and their potential to provide cleaner, lower-carbon fuel in the decades to come. The House-passed Waxman-Markey bill offered a pathway for coal to transition to carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
The coal mining industry has seen significant developments over the last two weeks. A mining accident in West Virginia has renewed questions about the safety of coal extraction, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has offered new rules on the environmental and health impacts of mountaintop mining.
Witnesses
In April 2010, Climate Wise Women from the South Pacific Islands, Uganda and Biloxi, Mississippi will begin a 30-city, 18-country speaking tour in the Americas. These community activists can’t wait for politicians and governmental negotiators to get it right on climate change. They want straight talk on what climate change is doing to women, children, families and communities around the world. The tour continues to Asia / the Pacific in Fall 2010 and to Europe in Spring 2011.
Panelists
Georgetown
Reiss Science Bldg Rm 112 6-8:00pm
In April 2010, Climate Wise Women from the South Pacific Islands, Uganda and Biloxi, Mississippi will begin a 30-city, 18-country speaking tour in the Americas. These community activists can’t wait for politicians and governmental negotiators to get it right on climate change. They want straight talk on what climate change is doing to women, children, families and communities around the world. The tour continues to Asia / the Pacific in Fall 2010 and to Europe in Spring 2011.
Panelists
Johns Hopkins
1717 Mass. Ave NW Rm LL7
A lively discussion moderated by Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones will take place from 5:30-6:30 followed by a cocktail reception at Helix Lounge featuring drink and food specials.
Panelists:
Moderator:
Kate Sheppard is an environmental reporter and blogger at Mother Jones. Kate’s inside the beltway muckraking on the energy industry and the Chamber of Commerce make her a must follow for anyone interested in the business and politics of green and greenwashing.
Helix Lounge
Hotel Helix
1430 Rhode Island Ave NW
For the first time, the U.S. Energy Information Administration is hosting a major energy conference in partnership with the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. The conference attracts U.S. and international attendees from government, industry, non-profit organizations, the media, and academia.
2010 Energy Conference with Keynotes
| Session | Moderator |
| U.S. Climate Change Policy: What’s Next After Copenhagen | Richard Newell (EIA Administrator) |
| Short-Term Energy Prices — What Drivers Matter Most? | Howard Gruenspecht (EIA Deputy Administrator) |
| The Energy-Water Nexus: Availability and Impacts | Howard Gruenspecht |
| EIA’s 2010 Annual Energy Outlook Highlights | John Conti (EIA) |
| Regulating Energy Commodities | Steve Harvey (EIA) |
| Biofuels: Continuing Shifts in the Industry and Long-Term Outlook | Michael Schaal (EIA) |
| Natural Gas: U.S. Markets in a Global Context | Glen Sweetnam (EIA) |
| Smart Grid: Impacts on Electric Power Supply and Demand | Joseph Paladino (DOE, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability) |
| Energy and the Economy | Adam Sieminski (Deutsche Bank) |
| Energy Efficiency: Measuring Gains and Quantifying Opportunities | Deborah Bleviss (School of Advanced International Studies) |
Confirmed speakers
International Trade Center
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, DC 20004
Opening remarks
Panelists
Moderated by
Wednesday’s hearing is one in a series as the committee develops the next surface transportation authorization bill.
Witnesses
Panel 1
Panel 2
The Subcommittee on Energy and Environment will consider H.R. _, Committee Print on the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010, H.R. _, Committee Print on the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense (GRID) Act, and H.R. 4451, the Collinsville Renewable Energy Promotion Act.
Nominations of:
The nominees will be present.
The Senate Armed Services Committee tomorrow will consider President Obama’s nominee to be the first person to fill a position created to rein in the Defense Department’s energy use in combat situations.
As the director of operational energy plans and programs, Sharon Burke would be responsible for working toward better fuel demand management for the services’ ships, tanks, aircraft and vehicles as well as the generators that provide heating, air conditioning and power to bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. If confirmed, Burke will be the top adviser to the secretary of Defense and the deputy secretary of Defense regarding the services’ operational energy plans and programs.
Burke will likely have a smooth confirmation hearing. Ranking member John McCain (R-Ariz.) does not have any concerns with her confirmation, according to a committee aide. And, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is planning to meet with Burke today to “get a sense of who she is and what she’s about,” according to Inhofe spokesman Jared Young. However, Inhofe does not plan on opposing her confirmation at the hearing tomorrow, Young said.
Burke currently serves as a vice president at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) in Washington, D.C., focusing on ways international demand for natural resources affects climate change, biodiversity and security.
Last summer, while working at CNAS, she testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on how U.S. national security and climate change are linked. Her comments provide insight into what type of actions she would advocate if confirmed to the position and indicate that she would likely take swift and definitive action to reduce the Defense Department’s carbon footprint and incorporate climate change concerns into defense strategies.
“National security capabilities can take decades to build: We need to design the ideas and equipment and recruit and train the personnel to protect and defend the nation 10 to 40 years in the future, and it is clear that climate change will shape our future,” Burke said in her testimony.
Burke stressed that since DOD is the single largest energy consumer in the United States, it could create a “significant demand pull” that could drive the research and response regarding climate change. She also pressed for better education efforts to help the defense community reach consensus on the science of climate change and how it would affect defense operations.
“There is an urgent need to communicate the science [of climate change] in terms of risk management and plausible scenarios; the defense community, after all, has spent billions of dollars building weapons and training personnel to deal with risks and plausible threats in the future,” she said.
The position Burke was nominated for was created in the fiscal 2009 Defense Authorization Act following sharp criticism from the Defense Science Task Board on DOD’s energy management by operational forces. The task board said in 2008 that the lack of sustained senior leadership on this issue is “one of the most significant barriers to changing wasteful practices.” Other nominees
The committee tomorrow also will consider Katherine Hammack to be assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment.
Hammack currently works for Ernst & Young’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services, where she has helped clients obtain Energy Star or LEED certification for their new construction or existing buildings. Hammack was also a consultant to the White House on the “greening” of the White House and Executive Office Building, leading the group focused on indoor environmental quality issues.
If confirmed, she will supervise the design, construction, operations, maintenance and management of Army installations. She would also be responsible for the Army’s environmental compliance and cleanup progress.